The present invention relates to a tape application device for applying a strip-like adhesive tape released from a release paper along a tape-applying surface of a workpiece on which the adhesive tape is to be applied.
It is desirable to color inner and outer sides of a door sash of an automotive vehicle with matte black because a light reflection from the door sash is minimized when viewed from the outside the vehicle, particularly from a lateral side of a vehicle body, which results in the neat appearance of not only a vehicle cabin but also the entirety of the vehicle body.
Thus, the spray painting of matte black paint to a door sash has conventionally been carried out. The spray painting, however, is problematic in that incidental facilities for maintaining a working environment in a favorable condition is expensive and a longer time is necessary for drying the paint. To eliminate such problems, the use of matte black adhesive tape resistant to weather and wear is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open Nos. 51-135015 (1976) and 62-46780 (1987), which is applied to the door sash instead of the spray painting of paint. In this case, since the vehicle door sash is primarily constituted by three-dimensional curvatures as is well-known, a device for carrying out the above-mentioned attachment of the adhesive tape would become extremely large and elaborate, which will rise an installation cost of a production line if such the device were actually incorporated thereinto. Also, the device is poor in adaptability to the design change of the door sash and lacks a general-purpose property.
When this applying operation is manually carried out by the operator in a vehicle production line without using any jigs, an extremely high level of operational skill will be required for accurately performing the operation at a speed in correspondence to that of the vehicle production line. Another tape application device is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 5-338627 (1993), which allows the operator with ordinary skill to easily and quickly perform the above-mentioned operation. By using this tape application device, it is possible to easily and quickly apply the adhesive tape at a predetermined position on the door sash in a precise manner even by an ordinary operator not highly skill in the art.
Also, it is deemed that a device for automatically incorporating a weather strip into a door sash may be usable, which is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open Nos. 2-221582 (1990) and 3-166068 (1991) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-65298 (1993).
A further tape application device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 5-338627 (1993) is adapted for either a right-hand or left-hand specification in correspondence to right and left doors of a vehicle, respectively. Therefore, in a sedan type passenger vehicle with four doors, it is necessary to use four kinds of tape application devices in correspondence to front and rear doors on the right and left sides, which is very troublesome. In addition, this device is complicated in structure, resulting in the inconvenience in that the number of parts becomes large and the production cost increases.
If the weather strip attachment device disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open Nos. 2-221582 (1990) and 3-166068 (1991) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-65298 (1993) is used as a tape application device, a problem may occur in that a space is necessary for installing a manipulator in addition to devices for holding and positioning the door panel, which requires a change in vehicle production line.
An object of the present invention is to provide a tape application device at a lower cost, which allows an ordinary operator not highly skill in the art to quickly and accurately attach an adhesive tape at a predetermined position either on a right door sash or on a left door sash.
A tape application device according to the present invention is detachably mounted to a workpiece, for applying an adhesive tape released from a release paper onto a tape applying surface provided on the workpiece, comprises
a main body,
a sub body spaced from the main body,
a first presser roller rotatably supported between the main body and the sub body, so that the adhesive tape is wrapped therearound,
a second presser roller disposed in parallel to the first presser roller and capable of being re-positioned relative to the main body and the sub body to be located downstream from the first presser roller as seen in the applying direction of the adhesive tape,
a first guide roller mounted to the main body to be rotatable about an axis generally parallel to rotary axes of the first and second presser rollers,
a second guide roller mounted to the main body to be rotatable about an axis transverse to the rotary axis of the first guide roller and the rotary axes of the first and second presser rollers, for holding the main body in association with the first guide roller to be movable along the tape applying surface while being engaged therewith so that the first and second guide rollers roll on the tape applying surface while being pressed thereon,
a third guide roller disposed in parallel to the second guide roller, for holding the main body in association with the second guide roller and the first guide roller to be movable along the tape applying surface while being engaged therewith so that the first and second presser rollers roll on the tape applying surface while being pressed thereon, and capable of being re-positioned relative to the main body to be disposed in an offset state upstream in the applying direction of the adhesive tape with respect to the first presser roller,
a tape guide plate pivoted at a proximal end thereof to the sub body to be rotatable about an axis vertical to the rotary axes of the first and second presser rollers and the second and third guide rollers, and
holding means disposed between a distal end of the tape guide plate and the main body, for holding the tape guide plate so that a gap for guiding the adhesive tape-cum-release paper is formed on a side opposite to the second guide roller relative to the presser roller in a manner such that the presser roller is positioned between the second guide roller and the gap.
In the tape application device of the present invention, after a tip end of the adhesive tape has been applied to the predetermined position of the tape applying surface on the workpiece, the main body is engaged with the workpiece by the first to third guide rollers so that the adhesive tape is pressed onto the tape applying surface by the first and second presser roller. And, after the adhesive tape has been wrapped around the first presser roller and transferred to the second presser roller, the tape guide plate is stationary relative to the main body by the holding means to define the gap between the presser rollers and the tape guide plate so that the adhesive tape-cum-release paper is located therein. When the main body moves from this state along the tape applying surface, the adhesive tape released from the release paper is pressed onto the tape applying surface by means of the first and second presser rollers and applied thereto.
According to the tape application device of the present invention, since the second presser roller and the third guide roller can be re-positioned in accordance with the applying directions of the adhesive tape, it is possible to apply this device to, for example, a workpiece of either a left-hand or right-hand specification. Also, since this device is simple in structure, it can be produced at a lower cost. Since the third guide roller is disposed in an offset state at a position upstream in the applying direction of the adhesive tape with respect to the first presser roller, the moving direction of the tape application device is easily controlled along the workpiece so that the tape application device is always tightly engaged with the workpiece without looseness. As a result, it is possible to accurately apply the adhesive tape onto the tape-applying surface of the workpiece even by a non-skilled operator. Particularly, since the first and second presser rollers and the first and second guide rollers roll on the workpiece during the movement of the tape application device along the workpiece, there is less frictional resistance against the movement of the tape application device relative to the workpiece, whereby the tape-adhesion operation can be performed with a smaller force without any damage on the surface of the adhesive tape due to the friction.
In the tape application device according to the present invention, two positions may be defined for mounting the second presser roller in the main body and the sub body so that the second presser roller is mounted to either one of the two positions. In such a case, the first presser roller may be disposed between the two positions for mounting the second presser member.
The repositioning of the second presser roller may be carried out by the detachment/attachment of the second presser roller relative to the main body and the sub body.
Alternatively, the re-positioning of the second presser roller may be carried out by the rotary motion of the second presser roller about a rotary axis of the first presser roller. In such a case, the device may further include a pivot for coupling the main body with the sub body and passing through the first presser member to rotatably support the latter, and a rotary arm rotatably connected at a proximal end thereof with the pivot and carrying the second presser member at a tip end of thereof in a rotatable manner. In such a case, the device may further includes two sets of stoppers provided in at least one of the main body and the sub body for defining two rotational positions of the rotary arm relative to the pivot. Thus, it is possible to quickly carry out the re-positioning of the second presser roller and facilitate the operation to a great extent.
Two positions may be defined for mounting the third guide roller in the main body so that the third guide roller is mounted to either one of the two positions. In such a case, the second guide roller may be disposed between the two positions for mounting the third guide rollers. Also, the re-positioning of the third guide roller may be carried out by the detachment/attachment of the third guide roller relative to the main body.
The device may further include ribs provided in the tape guide plate, projected into the gap at positions on opposite sides of the first presser roller as seen in the rotational direction thereof. In such a case, one of the ribs may project between the first and second presser rollers.
An outer circumferential surface of the first and second presser rollers may be formed of elastomeric material. In such a case, the adhesive tape can be evenly applied to the tape-applying surface without involvement of air.
The device may have a plurality of second guide rollers.
The holding means may be one using magnetic force. In such a case, the holding means becomes compact in size and is capable of quickly and easily carrying out the opening/closing operation of the tape guide plate.
The above and other objects, effects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.